Wednesday, October 29, 2008

As Lee pointed out below a strong cold front was responsible for wintry weather for the Carolina mountains as well as some sleet reports from cities across the Northern part of viewing area! This same system has caused quite a mess over New England, primarily New York! Here are some snowfall totals from the Empire State.

Roxbury, NY: 25.6"

Freeland, NY: 17.0"

Morrisville, NY: 15.5"

Worcester, NY: 10.5"

Along with heavy snow in New York there were also totals upward of 6" in Pennsylvania and a 3" total in Maryland.

For many baseball fans this same storm had a direct impact on the 2008 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays. Game 5 started innocently enough with cold conditions and light rain, but by the 3rd inning the rain really picked up with the Phillies in the lead 2-1. As the rain continued to pour and the wind howl, officials kept the game rolling through the 4th and 5th innings. Not sure about you, but there's nothing worse than having to deal with wind chills in the 30's unless you have to deal with it wet! It wasn't until the Rays scored a run in the top of the 6th to tie the game at 2 that the grounds crew came out and the game suspended after 30 more minutes of waiting.

Fast forward to this evening. Conditions in Philly will be just as cold, but much drier. The game is scheduled to resume at 8:37pm. So, if you are not a fan of watching 9 innings of baseball never fear it's only 3 and a half innings to decide the winner. Either we have a new champion or we return to Tampa Bay for game 6 and, oh yeah, a dome!

The above photos look like winter scenes taken in January or February, but those photos were actually taken Tuesday morning, October 28 when snow showers fell in the North Carolina mountains. The top photo was taken from the Pisgah Inn along the Blue Ridge Parkway at about 5000 ft in elevation. The second photo was taken around Grandfather Mountain.

The cold front that brought the cold temperatures to produce the snow in the mountains even produced some isolated late sleet around the Triangle on Monday afternoon. We received reports of sleet from viewers in Pittsboro, Apex, Cary, and Louisburg.

So does this late October cold snap mean we are in for a cold and snowy winter? No, not necessarily. While temperatures have been colder than normal the past couple of days, we cannot make any correlation between the current weather and what we can expect over the next several months.

Long range forecasts for winter 2008-2009 have been mixed. The latest forecast from the Climate Prediction Center (shown below) calls for above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation for December, January, and February.

Keep in mind we could still have a few cold snaps and even some winter precipitation in a winter that is on average warmer and drier than normal. And yes, it is too early to answer that question for snow lovers of how much snow we can expect this winter. We can tell you we see an average of 7 inches of snow each winter in the Triangle, but the last few winters have fallen well below that normal.

Unfortunately, the weather may not be that great to check out the fall colors this weekend. Rain is likely across the state beginning Friday afternoon into Saturday. We expect a soaking rain in our part of the state especially late Friday night and Saturday morning when an 1.0 to 1.5" of rain will be possible.

Looking ahead to next week, we expect a big cool down for the middle of the week with our first freeze possible in central North Carolina by next Thursday morning.

Stay tuned to News 14 Carolina for the latest updates on these forecasts with Weather on the Ones available every 10 minutes only on Time Warner Cable!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Fall foliage is near its peak in the higher elevations of the North Carolina like near Grandfather Mountain near where the above picture was taken this week. Read more on this weekend's color report by clicking to http://www.visitnc.com/fallcolor/fallcolor_report.asp

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

We're keeping an eye on our record highs for the next couple of days as the current "October heat wave" continues. Yesterday's high at RDU of 85 was only a degree away from the record set in 1985. Here are the records to watch for today and tomorrow --

October 15 -- 88 in 1985

October 16 -- 85 in 1989

Thursday should be our best chance to at least tie the record high. That will be the last in our string of warm days. A cold front will move through the state Friday bringing a chance for showers and cooler temperatures for the weekend. In some spots around the Triangle Friday, it will be a struggle to even reach 70. The low 60s are expected for highs on Saturday!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

More and more fall colors are showing up in western North Carolina. Higher elevations like Grandfather Mountain are reported to be near peak for fall color. The above photos were taken from the Grandfather Mountain area. The peak of fall color for elevations above 5000 feet is forecast to come in the next 7 to 10 days.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Thursday, October 02, 2008

There's a new service from news14.com --- a fishing forecast for the North Carolina coast. Check it out if you have a fishing trip planned for the coast this weekend. You'll find the link on our coastal weather page at news14.com or click to http://www.coastalcarolinafishingreport.com/tv14reports.htm

For the latest news and weather from the coast, News 14 Carolina and Weather on the Ones is now available on Time Warner Cable systems on the coast including areas around Wilmington, Jacksonville, Morehead City, and surrounding areas!

Now that October has arrived the beautiful colors of fall aren't too far away! Right on cue, cooler air is moving into parts of the state today behind a cold front. Mornings lows will drop to the 30s in the higher elevations of the mountains the next couple of mornings. That should help the progress of the color change in western North Carolina. Already, there are reports of some patches of fall color around Grandfather Mountain. The peak of fall color typically comes in the second and third week of October in the higher elevations of the mountains and later in the month for lower elevations.

Weather conditions should allow for vivid colors in the mountains this year. You can find the latest fall foliage report at www.visitnc.com/fallcolor

If you're travelling to the mountains this weekend and spot some early signs of the color change, we'd like to see it. Send your fall foliage photos to weather@news14.com We'll share them for everyone here on our Weather on the Ones blog!